Rosina Martha Hosanah Palmer (; 27 August 1844 – 16 June 1932) was an Australian opera singer. Born in Hobart, she developed a soprano voice early on and accompanied her mother, opera singer Marie Carandini, on tours, singing with her family troupe. Palmer moved to Melbourne with her husband in 1866. Although she had a low income, she later became a successful singing teacher. Musicologist Thérèse Radic wrote that although she was gifted, Palmer was constrained by her social position as a married woman, as was typical of her contemporaries. Biography Early life and career Rosina Martha Carandini was born on 27 August 1844 in Hobart. She was the eldest of the five daughters of Jerome Carandini, Marquis of Sarzano, and Marie Carandini . As her father had no money, the family was dependent on their mother's career as an opera singer. Educated in Sydney and Melbourne, Rosina showed early promise in piano and placed first in school pianoforte competitions. Under the tuition of Frederick Augustus Packer, she developed a soprano voice. Her debut appearance was at St. Joseph's Cathedral in Hobart. Rosina's mother was determined and, after Rosina appeared beside her in the opera Norma as Adalgisa when she was fourteen, her mother encouraged her only in singing. Rosina married accountant Edward Hodson Palmer on 8 November 1860, with whom she would have eight children. She initially had no interest pursuing a career in music and only appeared at charity concerts, but joined her mother's concert company on an extended tour of Australia, New Zealand, India and the United States as "circumstances [rendered] it necessary". Four of her sisters joined in later years and they were known as the Carandini Family Troupe, until their father's death led to their mother abandoning the European tour in 1870. Career in Melbourne When Palmer and her husband moved to Melbourne in 1866, she continued her career as a singer, but did concerts in major cities instead of tours and was an oratorio singer. Palmer sang solo parts with low pay in the Melbourne Philharmonic Society and the Liedertafels, as they were socially acceptable as opposed to a "respectable matron [appearing] on the always-suspect opera stage". When Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, visited Melbourne he was impressed by Palmer's performance and promised to provide her musical education, but this did not come to pass. Palmer joined a traveling quartet as soprano with Armes Beaumont,